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THE CONE CALORIMETER AND HOW IT WORKS

J avier O. Trevino

Priest & Associates Consulting LLC

The intent of this paper is to describe how the Cone Calorimeter works. We are often asked to
repair or upgrade cone calorimeter equipment and train the laboratory's personnel on its use. I
chose this subject because:

1) There are many cone calorimeters in use today, and;
2) In a recent training session with new technicians, I discovered that technicians better
understand WHY to push buttons and perform a certain sequence of events after they
understand HOW the cone calorimeter works and what it produces Fire Response Data.

Basic Calorimetry Science

The first thing I mention in training is that all common fires produce 13.1 MJ of heat for every kg
of oxygen consumed (within reasonable accuracy). If we can collect and measure the unused
oxygen from a fire, we can calculate how much was consumed in a given time period and we can
calculate the heat output of that fire. This sets the stage for explaining how the cone calorimeter
works.

Cone Calorimeter Equipment

There is a significant difference in how older cone calorimeters work versus new models. New
models are simpler, more compact and efficient versions of the original equipment. The main
differences are what I consider to be convenient features such as push button spark arm control
and other non-essentials common to older models.

Cone Description

In essence, all cone calorimeters consist of six main devices:

1) Bench scale oxygen depletion calorimeter.
2) Precision load cell platform.
3) Laser Smoke measurement system.
4) Controllable radiant heat exposure.
5) Controllable spark ignition exposure.
6) Data Acquisition System.

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So how does it work? First, lets ask what does the cone calorimeter produce?

Data From the Cone Calorimeter

The Cone Calorimeter exposes a 100 mm x 100 mm specimen to a heat flux simulating real fire
conditions. The first piece of data we get is the time to ignition recorded manually or by pushing a
button once the sample ignites. This piece of data alone can be used as a screening tool for
relative flammability of materials. This data can be with or without spark ignition. The results can
be very different. There is continuing argument as to exactly how time to ignition is defined but for
the sake of the cone calorimeter it is defined as starting time of sustained ignition for at least 4
seconds. Previously, it was defined as 10 seconds of sustained ignition. Spurious ignitions are not
counted. The remaining data is composed of the two types: Raw Data and Report Data. The raw
data is used to calculate the report data. Raw data consists of time (sec), orifice pressure (Pa),
orifice gas temperature (K), photocell voltages (mV), gas temperature near photocell (K), Oxygen
concentration (%), CO/CO
2
concentration (% - optional), and Specimen Mass (g). All of the raw
data is used to calculate primary report data.

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The primary report data consists of the following:

1) Heat Release Rate (kW and kW/m
2
)
2) Smoke Density (1/m)
3) Mass Loss (g)
4) Duct Flow (LPM)

Some of this data is combined with the raw data to produce secondary report data such as: Mass
Loss Rates (kg/sec), Total Heat Release (kJ and kJ /m
2
), Effective Heat of Combustion, Average
Extinction Area a.k.a. Normalized Smoke Release (Smoke per mass of material m
2
/kg), Smoke
Release Rate (m
2
/sec), Peak and Averaged Heat Release Rate (kW and kW/m
2
) and, Peak and
Averaged Smoke Extinction Area, (m
2
/kg). Furthermore, some of this data can be used to
calculate various fire science engineering terms such as Flammability Rank (Peak HRR/Time to
Ignition). As one can see, the cone calorimeter can provide a myriad of useful information for fire
analysis of a given material, composite or even liquids such as hydraulic fluids. Luckily, modern
cone calorimeter software will do these calculations for us. One not-so-obvious calculation
requires time shifting gas species data because gas analysis data lags behind pressure and
temperature data depending on the plumbing system being utilized and pump sampling rate.

The Cone Guts Explained

However, even though some of the data and analysis may seem complex, the cone calorimeter is
a very simple device. I would venture to say a technically oriented person can build one with basic
metal working skills, basic knowledge of pumps, blowers, measurement instruments, and
computerized data acquisition. In the most simplistic terms, a cone calorimeter is a fume hood
connected to analytical instruments with a specialized fire exposure source for materials.

I will describe each of the six devices in rudimentary terms using a test setup sequence of events.
After turning on the main power to a cone calorimeter, one calibrates or verifies all instruments
after letting the machine warm up. The warm-up is important because some devices have data
drift as they warm up. You do not want data drift during a test! Data drift is when an instrument is
sending a changing data signal with no obvious cause for the change. Imagine a load-cell
displaying first 300 g then 298, then 296 after several minutes with a 300 gram weight just sitting
there. After warm-up and calibration/verification, one begins the process of setting up for a test.

At this point, the cone heater is already hot, the laser is on, the sampling pump is on with fresh
desiccant and soda lime, the oxygen analyzer is spanned and zeroed, and the load-cell is
calibrated and tared to the weight of the specimen frame assembly. So, when we run a test, what
is going on inside the cone?

After placing a sample in the specimen frame, you place the specimen/frame assembly on the
load-cell. The load-cell instantly responds and sends a signal to the computer data acquisition
system. The signal usually comes from a controller for the load-cell which converts the volts to
user friendly units on a display screen. There is a button which conveniently sets the load-cell to
zero with the specimen frame in place. So when we load the specimen, we are only receiving a
signal for the weight of the specimen. During this time, the specimen is not receiving heat even
though the cone heater is on. This is because during the calibration, you placed a cover
(specimen shield) under the cone heater to block the radiant heat from exposing the load-cell and
specimen. With the specimen shield in place, this causes the cone heater to warm-up because

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heat is reflecting back onto the cone coils. The cone coil is connected to a power source through
a PID controller which controls how much current passes through an electronic current controller.
A set of three thermocouples measures the coil temperature and sends the average temperature
signal to the PID controller which you have programmed for a specific set-point temperature. The
PID decides if the temperature is too high or low and sends a signal to the current controller to
raise or lower the current in order to reach the set-point temperature.

This happens continuously, so when you remove the specimen shield, the thermocouples will
sense a drop in temperature and the PID controller will raise the current to the current controller
by a very specific amount as determined by the PID constants which are weighting constants in
front of three terms in a differential equation programmed into the controller. If the new current
does not achieve the correct temperature, the controller makes another change until it reaches
the target temperature. It does all of this very rapidly without significantly over- or under-shooting
the temperature.

How Ignition Occurs

At this point, the specimen is receiving infrared heat radiation from the cone shaped coil and you
quickly move the spark igniter over the specimen. As the specimen heats up due to absorption of
IR energy, the specimen chemistry begins to break down and vapors begin to emit from the
specimen surface. The load cell begins to respond to minute weight loss as this occurs. These
vapors or gasses mix with the oxygen in the air (20.95% O
2
), and the mixture wants to burn (i.e.,
the molecules want to oxidize, releasing energy) but one ingredient is missing. The off-gas
temperature is nearly at the ignition temperature, but not quite. The spark igniter heats up a few
molecules past the ignition temperature and these molecules ignite (i.e. oxidize and release heat
energy). The heat from that added to the spark heat causes a few more molecules to react and
the increased heat causes a runaway effect forcing all of the off-gas to ignite. Without the spark
igniter, the specimen would continue to get hotter and hotter and the off-gas would eventually
reach its ignition temperature, assuming the heat flux from the cone heater is high enough. Now
that ignition has taken place, the load-cell registers a higher rate of mass loss than during the pre-
ignition off-gas phase. Note that the mass loss rate corresponds very linearly with the heat
release rate of the material. As the sample burns, it will reach a peak mass loss rate (heat release
rate) then begin the process of self-extinguishing (lower mass loss rate) due to many factors such
as char formation or chemistry changes. If char forms, the char blocks the radiant heat from
reaching fresh unburned material, so the fire intensity (Heat Release Rate) will diminish.

The Meaning of Smoke Density

At this point, the fire heats up the cone heater slightly and the PID controller reduces the current
to keep a constant heat flux on the specimen. The plume from the fire rises into the extraction
hood and pulls in fresh air, the amount depending on the blower speed. The oxygen
deprived/smoke-filled exhaust stream passes through the laser beam and blocks some of the
light. This reduces the voltage reading from the photocell and is registered as smoke obscuration.
When performing smoke density calculations, the cone software calculates the logarithm of the
ratio (V
0
/V), where V
0
is the initial photocell reading without smoke and V is the current photocell
reading. This is a measure of how many particles blocked the beam of light. The % transmission
is more intuitive but Log (V
0
/V) is more scientific and later used for other calculations. Since Log X
is a proportional to the number of particles, then dividing by the length of the beam provides a
measure of particles per meter. That is why the units are (1/m). The smoke density depends on

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the volume flow rate of the blower system so we normalize this by multimplying this value by the
volume flow rate which results in smoke numbers having units of m2/sec. This is called Smoke
Release Rate and is relatively independent of the flow rate (i.e the SRR is constant over a wide
range of duct flow rates).

This is a self-correcting formula for various blower volume flow rates. For a given fixed smoke
density release, as you increase the blower speed, more fresh air enters the hood, cools the
airstream, increases the orifice plate pressure, decreases the smoke density, and results in a
constant smoke release rate. If you decrease the blower speed, less fresh air enters the hood,
causes the airstream temperature to rise, decreases the orifice plate pressure, and increases the
smoke density resulting in a fixed constant smoke release rate. You can test this with a cone
calorimeter during a constant burn. However, during a short transition, you will see a spike or dip
in smoke release rate as the time lagged variables catch up with the change until equilibrium
takes place. So, never change the blower speed to avoid spikes in SRR data.

Next, we divide the SRR by the mass loss and we integrate this with respect to time to get
Average Extinction Area in terms of m
2
/kg.

Oxygen Depletion Calorimetry 101

While the sample is burning, the oxygen depleted airstream flows past the oxygen sampling ring.
The ring takes samples from the perimeter of the duct and mixes the sampled air. In some flow
conditions, the upper layer contains oxygen depleted (buoyant, heated) air while the lower layer
contains fresher air. Theoretically, the air passes through a mixing orifice and should be well
mixed by the time the airstream reaches the sampling probe. But in High HRR burns, or under low
flow conditions, this might not always be the case. So the ring probe corrects for this. Also, the
holes are facing away from the airstream to minimize smoke accumulation clogging the holes. As
the exhaust sample flows through the tubing, it passes through a smoke filter, a moisture trap, the
sampling pump, then desiccant, and in some cases soda lime. All of these media and devices
remove smoke particles, moisture and CO
2
from the airstream in order to get an accurate
measure of the oxygen concentration in the duct (when using the Oxygen Only Calculation
method). On one side of the pump, the pressure is negative while on the other the pressure is
positive. On the positive side air is bled to prevent over-pressuring the system and controlling
flow. On the negative side, we need to ensure there are no leaks in the line as this would
introduce fresh air into the stream producing erroneous oxygen concentration results. All of this
takes time to occur so this data lags the other data, as I will describe below.

While the airstream is being analyzed for oxygen concentration, the increased air temperature is
monitored by a fine wire thermocouple which is shrouded in Inconel and responds to temperature
changes very fast. At the same time the pressure across the orifice plate changes due to the
change in air density which is due to the increased temperature of the air.

The three data signals (Oxygen, Pressure, Temperature) are all used in a simple formula to
calculate the Heat Release Rate. The heat release rate is based on the mass flow of air and the
oxygen concentration. The pressure and temperature of the airstream determine the mass flow of
air while the oxygen analyzer determines the oxygen concentration. In order for the formula to
work, the data must be aligned by time shifting the lagging oxygen concentration data to catch up
with the nearly instantaneous temperature and orifice pressure readings. The formula below
describes this.

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q =m E1.10
X
0
O2
-X
O2
1.105-1.5X
O2

Where:

m =C_
P
1


E is the familiar 13.1 MJ /kg O
2
for most materials. Notice that combining the formulas, the HRR
only depends on 3 variables. C is a constant determined by burning methane at 5 kW: C is
adjusted until the cone calorimeter output reads 5 kW. One interesting aspect of the cone
calorimeter formula is that it is what I call self-correcting for various blower mass flow rates. For
a given fixed fire, as you increase the blower speed, more fresh air enters the hood, cools the
airstream, increases the orifice plate pressure, increases the oxygen concentration, and results in
a constant heat release rate. If you decrease the blower speed, less fresh air enters the hood,
causes the airstream temperature to rise, decreases the orifice plate pressure, and decreases the
oxygen concentration resulting in a fixed constant heat release rate. You can test this with a cone
calorimeter during a calibration burn. However, during a short transition, you will see a spike or
dip in heat release rate as the time lagged variables catch up with the change until equilibrium
takes place. Three things to consider based on this fact are:

1) Never change the blower speed during a test.
2) Increase HRR accuracy for low HRR fires by turning down the blower.
3) Turn up the blower for high HRR fires to avoid letting the Oxygen dip below 14%. If the
Oxygen concentration falls below 14%, the HRR calculation may suffer in accuracy.

During this process, as the sample burns, the computer is monitoring the voltage from each
instrument and converting the voltages to engineering units which are used in the calculations. In
the end, one gets a nice set of plots and tabular data for smoke and heat release, mass loss, and
various calculated results based on the raw data.

What This Means to You

One comment from a technician I trained was I read the instructions you prepared and as far as I
knew, I was operating a time machine. After you explained WHY and HOW the cone works, it all
became crystal clear and now I understand the data better and troubleshooting is easy when the
data does not look as expected.